The overarching mission of the MB/MG Core is assist investigators seeking to discover the molecular bases[unreadable] underlying obesity and its comorbidities. To achieve this mission, the Core performs studies in humans and[unreadable] rodents to identify mutations in candidate genes as well as rodent studies to define the functions of[unreadable] candidate genes by genetic manipulations using transgenic methodologies, the MB/MG Core makes[unreadable] available to biomedical investigators a wide range of methodologies and reagents relevant to understanding[unreadable] me molecular physiology of obesity and energy metabolism in animals and humans. This core applies[unreadable] molecular genetic and molecular biological techniques to the mapping, cloning and functional[unreadable] characterization of genes related to obesity and its comorbidities. The services of this Core are available to[unreadable] investigators new to obesity research, as well as to investigators working on obesity-related projects that can[unreadable] be enriched and extended by the use of the expertise and facilities of this core. This Core operates in 2[unreadable] collaborating sites: Columbia University (R. Leibel) and AECOM (S. Chua). In general, techniques and[unreadable] services related to studies in humans are located at the former, and those related to rodents at tne fatter.[unreadable] However, this distinction is not rigid, and there is a lot of crossover between the sites. Services fndude a full[unreadable] range of capabilities in DNA and RNA isolation, sequencing, manipulation and quantification; experimental[unreadable] design and execution of gene/QTL-mapping studies in rodents and humans; maintenance of novel mouse[unreadable] genetic models of obesity; and design and execution of mouse transgenesis experiments.